The whole gospel of Christ

Message in a Minute for Feb 3:

            First, let me begin by asking everyone for your prayers.  Today is the 6^thanniversary of Bishop D’Arcy’s death. Hard to believe, but he died in 2013. He was tremendously important for me in my spiritual life and vocational discernment.  He is greatly missed.  The crypt chapel will be open on Feb 3 if anyone would like to go down there and offer a prayer for his soul.

We see two crazy extremes in the gospel today. At first, people are saying nice things about Jesus: “All spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.”  But, this positive sentiment does not last very long: “They were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town… to hurl him down…”  All spoke highly, then all were filled with fury.

What can explain this alarming, and quick, change of opinion?  The people listened to Jesus.  At first, the message was one of hope and blessing from God.  But, then his message turned into a message of challenge, conversion. The first message was greeted with joy. The second message was greeted with fury.

Can we really claim to be all that much different? We all love the story of Christmas, where Christ was born to be our Savior.  But, what about the message of Good Friday: only the Cross can bring new life. Jesus certainly told his disciples: follow me.  But, he also told them: pick up your cross if you would be my disciple. 

For some years now there has been this “prosperity gospel” that has become pretty popular.  Basically, it goes like this: if you are good, then God will bless you and fulfill all your dreams.  This is obviously attractive.  It’s also a true message.  But, it’s only part of the message of Christ.  It’s like the beginning of the gospel: all spoke highly and were amazed.  But, what about the message of conversion?  Do we avoid that part of the gospel?  Or, worse, does it fill us with fury?

Take some time this week.  Ask Jesus for both parts of the message.  Ask him for the good news that will fill you with joy. But, also ask him for the tough message of conversion.  Hard as it might be to hear, conversion will lead us to an even deeper kind of joy and peace.